Get Ready For Game Day At Sekiya’s

September 18, 2016

Story By: Maria Kanai | Photos by: Lawrence Tabudlo

Football season is here, and good, filling food is a necessity while cheering for your favorite team. The perfect solution is getting a party platter from Sekiya’s Restaurant & Delicatessen.

Located on Kaimuki Avenue, Sekiya’s is one of those humble, old-time restaurants that’s been around for decades on end — since 1935, to be exact. Family owned and operated, the island staple has been serving up local Japanese-style food for four generations.

General manager Faye Hara says, “We love being able to serve many generations of local families and we’ve seen their children come to our restaurant — it’s definitely a family affair.”

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At Sekiya’s, there’s a dine-in area, but also an okazuya at the front where customers can pick up food on the go. Sustain your football fans with carbs like chow fun ($6.50 per pound) and chow mein ($6.50 per pound). Both dishes have a good balance of fried noodles, vegetables — such as celery, carrots, asparagus, string beans, onions and bean sprouts — and sliced pork.

New to the noodle menu is yakisoba ($6.75 per pound), a Japanese classic with thin yakisoba noodles, cabbage and pork. The sauce is what makes or breaks this dish, and Sekiya’s doesn’t disappoint. “We use our own homemade sauce for the yakisoba. Typically, yakisoba sauce is on the spicier side, but we use our tonkatsu sauce, and it has a nice, sweet flavor,” says Hara.

Musubis are another great option from the okazu counter — the nori maki ($4.45), nori ume musubi ($1.30), plain musubi ($1) and inari sushi ($1.45) are popular choices.

And you can’t watch the game without having good, fried chicken to munch on. At Sekiya’s, there’s fried chicken and shoyu chicken for $1.80 per piece, and garlic chicken for $1.99 for five pieces. For tail-gating, though, try the marinated fried chicken, which you can order in a full party tray ($30). Made with a homemade shoyu-sugar sauce that hasn’t changed for years, the tender meat is deep fried to a golden crisp, and served on a bed of sliced cabbage. The chicken goes well with grated daikon radish and soy sauce, and it’s addictive — you’ll keep reaching for another piece.

Other party platters include tonkatsu, chicken katsu and yakitori, and customers also can create their own platters from the okazuya menu’s various selections.

Whether it’s fried noodles, musubi or chicken, consider welcoming Sekiya’s into your home for the next football game. With food this good, it’s bound to be a good season.